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New Ideas in Crazier Eights: Second Edition

Ideally I would like Crazier Eights to be playable just using the rules card or the rules summary, and it mostly is. However, I did avoid certain ideas in the First Edition of the game to make it a little easier for people. There are two main new(ish) ideas introduced in the Second Edition: (1) Cards you control and (2) alternate win conditions.

Cards you control

The first edition of the game did use the terminology of controlling cards to some extent, but none of the cards refer to the idea because some people find it confusing. The main idea is just that you control the cards you put into play on the table in front of you. These cards are written to be read by the person who controls them, and whoever controls them makes any decisions they require to be made.

Bewitch is the most obvious reason to have the word “control” in a game. It makes it clear that you can take other people’s cards. Notice that I use reminder text in parentheses to help clarify what it means to control cards.

Allosaurus could very well be the most complicated card in the game, but the idea behind the card isn’t that complicated. The main idea is just that it destroys (eats) one card every turn, and it destroys a card being used by whoever is currently taking a turn.

Alternate win conditions

Alternate win conditions can really shake the game up a bit. The First Edition was just about getting zero cards in hand, but now it is possible to eliminate opponents and win the game in other ways. The rules for alternate win conditions will be explained in the rules, but the main idea is that the game ends as soon as someone wins, and if a player loses the game, they put all their cards on the bottom of the discard pile.

Crystal Palace provides a way of eliminating players in a way that is perfectly consistent with the normal strategy of going down to zero cards in hand and making opponents draw cards. Note that it only makes a player lose at the end of his or her turn, so players will have a chance to find an answer to it before they will lose.

Multiple cards in the Second Edition have Arthurian characters including King Arthur himself. This time you get an alternate win condition, but every opponent will have a chance to find an answer before it will cause you to win the game. Notice that King Arthur makes the terminology of controlling cards even more useful.